Support NWA Little Free Period Product Pantry

Hello, we are Better Future NWA, and our mission is to better our community by installing “Pink Boxes”, a form of Little Free Pantries that will be filled with menstrual products. As well as refilling existing Little Free Pantries with non-perishable food items during the holiday seasons. 

As a team, we care about bringing closer access to feminine products for those who may not be able to access period products when they need them. Arkansas is ranked 49th in healthcare in the United States, and according to the Alliance for Peri

od Supplies, 1 in 5 females aged 12 to 44 lives below the poverty level, meaning that monthly supplies are out of reach for many women. 

Because of this, we started to brainstorm ways that would bring menstrual necessities to those who may not always be able to access them. After some thought, we discovered pink boxes and decided we wanted to further implement these throughout the Northwest Arkansas community. We loved the idea of pink boxes, but there was a problem. We noticed only one pink box in our area, that particular one being in Fayetteville. From this discovery, we decided building and installing more pink boxes throughout our community would be our mission. This way, more of those who need the supplies can take them, and those who want to give back to their community can continue to restock the period products. 

We believe pink boxes are an excellent way of giving out free menstrual products for people in need. As of right now, we have built one pink box, and we will continue to build more after finding locations for them. Our hopes are to have several pink boxes throughout Northwest Arkansas to help everyone in our area. 

However, Better Future NWA has greater goals altogether. Some of our community members are unable to have holiday dinners because of food insecurity. This is why we added restocking pantries to our list of goals. Especially since Meals on Wheels (a program that delivers meals to people who have difficulty providing for themselves, whether that be financial difficulties or who are unable to prepare meals) in Benton County got shut down after four decades in June of this year. We want to help as best as we can by restocking existing little free pantries during the holiday seasons. 

We hope to bring more attention to our project and to gain the support of people who want to contribute to helping us solve it. We have many goals for this project and are beyond thrilled to give back to Northwest Arkansas in a more unique way. The future holds exciting opportunities to make a positive impact on our community, no matter how small. 

To see our work continue to unravel, you can find us on Instagram @better_future_nwa , where our website and GoFundMe link are provided for those who are interested in helping us give back to our area!